HEARTS chief Roman Romanov last night revealed the Jambos' Champions League campaign will almost certainly kick off at Murrayfield.

The capital kings sealed their spot among Europe's elite on Wednesday by freezing Rangers out of second spot in the SPL.

And it's understood the club will play qualifying ties at the home of rugby - even though they have applied to UEFA for dispensation to play at their Tynecastle home, where the pitch is deemed too small for Champions League matches.

Despite the electric atmosphere inside the Gorgie ground, Romanov confessed the lure of more than DOUBLING their home gate will prove too much to resist.

It's impossible to imagine the 17,000 capacity will be enough to satisfy demand - no matter who Hearts draw.

Chairman Romanov said: "We'll have to look at all our options after the draw.

"It could be Tynecastle but if we need a bigger stadium it will be Murrayfield.

"We need revenue to compete with big clubs. Celtic and Rangers can sell 50 or 60,000 seats, we can sell 17,000. That makes us an underdog.

"But if we can get 40,000 in a bigger stadium we will.

"We need the revenue to strengthen the team and pay off some of the debt.

"The Scottish Cup Final is a good indication of what we can do - we've sold 35,000 for that."

Romanov also revealed that improvements to take Tynecastle's capacity to over 25,000 won't take place until the end of next season.

He said: "We need changes He said: "All the decisions have been difficult. But they weren't random - we had to make them. I wishwe hadn't changed three coaches but we had to.

"I wouldn't do anything differently though.

"Coaches have difficult jobs. They're surrounded by pressure and a lot of them don't make the right decisions under pressure."

Meanwhile, Hearts have knocked back a request from Sporting Lisbon for an end-of-season friendly at Tynecastle. Romanov said: "The players need a rest after the cup final. Maybe we can do it pre-season."

ANGRYVladimir Romanov is set to sue papers who claimed he blamed Webster's parents for a breakdown in contract talks.

The Jambos owner insists he only made a general reference to ALL parents in a BBC interview which was lifted by the press.

He snapped: "I have never even met Andy's parents so it's impossible for me to know whether they influenced his thinking.

Taken from the Sunday Mail